Press Business

Hi folks. You may or may not know, but this website gets a decent amount of page views every month- somewhere in the 100,000 range, give or take. The blog here on the front page is certainly a huge chunk of that. Therefore, I’m inviting you to benefit from my traffic just a wee bit this week. How? Simply leave your website or blog in the comments section for your fellow writers to visit.

But wait, there IS a catch.

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One of the questions I get most often is How do I start a website? This question is a doozy for me, because I feel that it’s important for a writer to have an online portfolio, but I also know there are about a million ways to do so. Some people use their blogs to house their clips, others use an online portfolio service, and still others use a bona fide site. But how do they build it? Do they code it themselves? Do they hire a website service? Or do they use

I have experience building web sites so I bought a very inexpensive domain through Godaddy.com. I think it costs me something like $50 a year. I used Dreamweaver to put up a basic site.

blogging, blogger,blogspot,make money from blog

But… if I didn’t know how to build a site I would just build a Wordpress blog on my own domain and use the pages to put on the writer information.

Building a blog is still complicated, but there’s a lot of help on the web and it doesn’t add to the cost. Just the yearly domain cost is all you’ll pay.

Aileen

blogging, blogger,blogspot,make money from blog

October 19, 2008 at 7:16 pm

(2) Samar says:

Hi Allena,

I’ve been following your blog ever since I started out freelancing just a couple of months ago. No jobs in my kitty yet but I’m building my portfolio steadily by writing for market places.

The questions you’ve stated are ones I asked myself. Some of the answers I’ve worked out. For now, since I’m starting out and haven’t a gig to my name, I have decided to use blogspot for my writing blog and portfolio which are in seperate blogs. But I gave them uniformity by using the same template for both blogs so that when someone clicks on either, they’ll know it is an extension of the site they were just at.

I chose blogspot because you can tweak the template easily. And also because I know a bit of html and nothing about CSS which is why I didn’t choose wordpress. There are plenty of websites that have blog templates for free.

Setting up my blog and portfolio cost me nothing except time which I see as an investment in my business. I have decided not spend anything on my freelance business that I haven’t earned from it. For now, I am happy and satisfied with my writing blog and portfolio.

I hope this helps fellow writers who are just starting out.

October 19, 2008 at 9:21 pm

(3) B J Keltz says:

I was lucky enough to have a son that is into “all things web” and a very good friend with talent for building sites. If not for them, I’d have gone with a godaddy domain (I did) and their website tonight program, which is inflexible, but pretty much point and click. Our wymj website 2.0 will be up in a week or two and it looks so much better than the current!

October 19, 2008 at 9:26 pm

(4) Jessie says:

While I could build a fairly complex website, I chose vista print to easily match my business cards and have something customizable but easy to update quickly. For $20 a month I can put paypal buttons everywhere! I would advise looking into it for the busy writer, or the writer with no website building experience.

October 19, 2008 at 9:31 pm

(5) Rhetta Peoples says:

I think a great way to get some web presence is to join a site like Associated Content. Check it out! Visit me while you’re at it!

WordPress is a great open-development community that encourages its users to innovate. But a few years ago, it started getting hard to keep up with those innovations. That’s when the WordPress Plugin Repository was born (currently hosted at http://WP-plugins.org).

The repository is a place where all WordPress plugins are pulled together and shared with the community of users. But more than that, it’s a place where developers can go to see what’s already out there, what they can base their new work on, and what needs to be improved. In addition to end-user utilities that anyone can download for their WordPress needs, there are plenty of development tools, including wiki-based version control and a bug tracker, that the WordPress development community is welcomed to use. Everything is licensed under GPL unless noted in the source, so almost everything is open.

If you’re new to the WordPress plugin repository but not to the WordPress support forums, you should login with your forum username and password; they are currently synced. If you have any problems, you should email the forum webmaster to ask what’s going on. Only logged-in users may edit on the Repository, though everyone is welcome to view what’s going on.

What’s Available on the WordPress Plugin Repository?

The Repository is designed to be a complete, organized, efficient method of seeing what’s in development and what has been developed for WordPress. As such, the core offerings here are the plugin directory and a robust version control mechanism. You can also use a special interface, downloadable for free, to work with the Repository more easily. The Repository is powered by Trac, a source control management and project management tool. Subversion is a wiki tool providing version control, and is also the source management tool WordPress is using today.

Developers using this directory can host all their WordPress developments for free, even organizing teamwork through the WordPress Plugin Repository. By hosting here, they have high visibility, can easily manage their code and track bugs, and develop wiki-based documentation with end users more easily than they could ever do it by themselves.

But developers without users are like stores without customers. WordPress users, too, are welcome to download plugins that are in alpha or beta form, or to download and use the plugins that are fully-functional but not integrated into WordPress yet. There are tools available for users to:

• Browse plugins and themes available at the Repository

• Download all desired plugins and themes from one stable location

• Give their own feedback and suggestions to developers by using the tracker.

• Help develop documentation and improvements by using the plugin’s wiki page.

• Know what’s going on at all times by using RSS feeds.

Anyone developing or looking for WordPress plugins and themes is encouraged to use this resource. An email will get you the hosting you need for your project, and just coming and looking around will tell you a lot about what’s going on in the WordPress development world.

What Plugins Are Available Right Now?

While plugins are changing fast, a few core plugins are available and certainly worth the time they’ll take to check out. The best ones right now include:

Main Categories for WordPress allows you select “main” categories on your blog’s navigation bar. This allows you to highlight the parts of your blog you find most important, while still displaying everything else.

The WordPress DBManager manages your WordPress database so you don’t have to. Instead of worrying about lost data, you can use this manager to optimize, back up, restore, delete backed up databases, and even run queries for specific data.

WordPress Email allow you to send your blog entries to friends, enemies, or anyone you choose.

WordPress PageNavi gives you advanced page navigation.

WordPress Polls allows you to run the ever-popular polls and make the results public when you’re ready.

WordPress PostRatings allows you to have rating systems for your blog posts.

WordPress PostViews lets you display for users and for yourself how many times a post has been viewed.

WordPress Print will display for the user a printable version of any given WordPress blog post.

WordPress RelativeDate displays a relative date beside your post or comment actual date.

WordPress Stats displays WordPress statistics you want to brag about.

WordPress UserOnline allows you to note which users are currently browsing your blogs

WordPress Wap allows you to use a Wap-enabled cell phone to brows your WordPress blog entries from anywhere.

Other projects that are in development include:

• Joystick controls

• RPMView

• A WordPress XHTML validator

• Tons of tools for Python, including MySQL tools

• Recording level monitor

• An admin themer

• A post editor enhancement

• Fix broken links

• Palm usage manager

There are always new things in development in the repository, like new themes and small fixes such as a way to make WordPress allow dashes.

Even if you’re not a developer or interested in expanding your blog beyond what it has now, it is a good idea to check out the Repository. It’s certain that many of the plugins provided or in development today will eventually be incorporated into the newer upgrades of WordPress. By keeping an eye on the Repository, you’ll know what new developments are around the corner – and by logging in and discussing them on the wiki logs, you’ll be able to give your own input regarding how things ought to be done. While there are other places to find WordPress plugins, it’s to be hoped that most people will use the Repository in the future, making life easier for everyone.

When you are looking at Wordpress themes and trying to figure out which color would best suit your website, consider the psychological effects of color. In Western psychology, color produce a psychological effect on viewers. Viewers may associate qualities with a color and color may be symbolic as well.

When choosing colors, you can choose one color as the main color or you can chose a main color with other accent colors. One main color with two accent colors is a good combination if you want a livelier palette for your website than just a single color.

The warm colors of the color wheel can affect viewers because of the strength of these colors. These warm colors can overwhelm your website’s content unless they are used with moderation. Unlike the mellow blues and greens, the warm colors beg for attention. Yellow will grab the eye and may be distracting if it is overused. In color psychology, yellow can be motivating and sometimes over-stimulating. In studies, tempers were lost easier and babies cried more in yellow rooms.

Orange can spark the appetite in viewers. If you wish to whet the appetite of your visitors, use orange in your Wordpress theme. It will look fresh and natural while it rings the lunch bell in reader’s minds. Red is another exciting warm color. Red can cause the heart rate and breathing to quicken and can over-stimulate too if it overwhelms a website. You should use the warm colors as accent colors because of the strength of their visual effect.

The cool colors of the color wheel has a more soothing effect. Green is symbolic color for many people. Symbolically, green has a few meanings. Green can symbolize money, prosperity, growth, youth, nature and freshness. As a color choice for a website, green is a lively color that does not cause eye strain. The color green has a relaxing effect on its viewers. Dark green is often seen as a masculine or woodsy color.

The color blue is associated with masculinity and it is often associated with authority. Websites that present information and want to be seen as an authority on the subject can do well to use blue as a main color. Blue is a favorite color with many people because of its tranquil appearance.

Neutral colors such as gray, brown, black and white have meanings for viewers too. Gray projects authority and stability. Brown presents an earthy and honest quality that could be considered homespun or earthy. Black means power, authority and knowledge for many viewers. Black sometimes have negative connotations for some viewers. On the other hand, white represents purity and neutrality.

Wordpress themes can be used because of the effects that the color will have on the website viewers. If you choose a Wordpress theme with the right color, your website will have the effect on viewers that you want instead of affecting viewers in such a way that they are over-stimulated or uninspired. Color is a powerful element when it comes to the design of your Wordpress website.